Ukraine’s president visited his troops Wednesday on the front line in the eastern Donetsk region where they have fought some of their fiercest air and ground battles against Russian forces.

Before Ukraine received promised Western weapons and supplies, it was outmanned and outgunned in its fights in the region, where Russia is attempting to capture more land.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was accompanied on his visit by Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov, the new commander of the joint forces.

“He is a young man,” Zelensky said of Hnatov, “but his knowledge of the front line and experience are exactly what is needed.”

Hnartov replaces Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol whom some Ukrainian troops say is to blame for causing too many Ukrainian casualties in Ukraine’s war against Russia.

“Hnatov’s task is clear,” Zelenskyy said, “to destroy the occupier and, very importantly, to save as many lives of our warriors as possible.”

Ukrainian drones

Russia said Wednesday a Ukrainian drone attack targeted military sites in the Smolensk region, while Ukraine said a Russian aerial attack damaged infrastructure in Odesa.

The Russian defense ministry said it shot down two Ukrainian aerial drones over Smolensk.

Vasily Anokhin, the regional governor, said on Telegram that Ukraine tried to attack military installations in the Vyazemsky district, and that there were no casualties or damages reported.

In Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, Governor Oleh Kiper said Tuesday on Telegram that a Russian ballistic missile strike overnight hit an administrative building at an industrial site.

Kiper said no one was hurt.

US-Russia talks

The defense chiefs of Russia and the United States held a rare phone call Tuesday, amid Russian complaints about U.S. supplies of arms to Ukrainian forces.

The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine,” in what was his first phone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov since Belousov replaced Sergei Shoigu in May.

The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the two officials “exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine” and that Belousov “pointed to the danger of further escalation of the situation in connection with the ongoing supply of U.S. weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

Russia on Monday summoned the U.S. ambassador in protest of what it said was the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles in an attack on Russia-annexed Crimea that killed four people.

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters Monday that Ukraine makes its “own decisions when it comes to operations and targeting” and that Russia is responsible for invading Ukraine “leading to the death and destruction of thousands of innocent Ukrainians.”

Some information for this report was provided by from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.